How I Realized My School Needed An It’s On Us Chapter

After our first year at college, my friends and I got together and discussed all of our different experiences. While we had received different advice from our families and friends before we left for college, we all agreed there were challenges no one had warned us about. The biggest challenge was that we were all unprepared for the initial culture shock. My friends and I grew up in New York City, which is a pretty liberal city. When we arrived on our individual college campuses, we quickly realized we were out of our element when it came to campus life.

By spending my freshman year studying in Europe, I faced an even bigger culture shock. I was suddenly faced with what it was like to be a young black woman in a predominantly white European world. I was thrown into an environment where there were few people that looked like me, or faced the same problems I did. Many of my peers hailed from more traditionally patriarchal communities and upbringings, which meant that even the young women had different values than mine. One of my first friends was a young woman from Spain who thought nothing of men calling the shots—even if it meant an unwanted kiss. After a few weeks of adjusting to college culture, and going to gatherings and parties, I began to realize that many of the people around me held antiquated views on how men and women should carry themselves, and specifically, what the standards were for acceptable male behavior.

Vice President Joe Biden joins students at an It's On Us event. Courtesy of the Associated Press

Coming from a city where I took for granted many progressive attitudes towards women’s empowerment and bodily autonomy, I was suddenly faced with having to create my own definition of what is considered to be sexual harassment and assault. I then realized that my academic environment was missing the necessary resources and spaces to hold important conversations on race, gender, and sexuality in society.

Being alone in trying to accomplish this goal was daunting, but not impossible. I consulted the existing gender organization group about ways to create a stronger voice on campus and develop an advocacy and education program.

I reached out to It’s On Us to become a Digital Fellow as a stepping stone to better understand what it meant to create an It’s On Us chapter and how the organization worked from the inside.

It’s On Us’s mission puts engaging college men in the fight against campus sexual assault at the forefront. When I saw this as part of their mission, it instantly clicked with me. Even in my own university’s sexual assault prevention clubs, men were almost non-existent. I remember my own conversations trying to recruit men on my campus shied away from these conversations out of fear that they were going to be the ones to be blamed for any conflict around college campus sexual assault. What I failed to articulate to these men is that we simply wanted to create a dialogue, and that their opinions in these issues are valuable.

As the It’s On Us Digital Fellow, I had the opportunity to attend the first-ever Regional Advisor Summit and sit in on various presentations, where I listened in on what we can do with our peers around bystander intervention. We all know how difficult it can be to intervene in a situation we know nothing about, and many times we see the warning signs, but don’t know how we can insert ourselves into a situation without calling too much attention to it. It’s On Us lends their expertise to campus organizers on simple actions students can take to prevent a sexual assault from happening. They can also point you in different directions on how to support survivors.

As the It’s On Us Digital Fellow, I had the opportunity to attend the first-ever Regional Advisor Summit and sit in on various presentations, where I listened in on what we can do with our peers around bystander intervention.Courtesy of Leila Roker

Nearly half a million people have taken the It’s On Us pledge, and It’s On Us has campus chapters in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., making it the largest campus organizing program in the sexual assault awareness and prevention space. Getting involved on campus can feel daunting, but we can agree that action does not end with the pledge. Starting an It’s On Us chapter is simple and guided by support from the It’s On Us staff every step of the way.

It’s easy to feel that your voice can’t make a difference, but our collective voices are very powerful. That’s why I am encouraging my friends back home to get involved with their existing It’s On Us chapter or start their own today by applying to be an It’s On Us Campus Organizer. You can too! Apply to be a Campus Organizer today at bit.ly/IOUOrganizer.

Leila Roker is an It’s On Us Digital Fellow based in New York. She is currently abroad at The American University of Paris through a University of Southern California program. Leila is studying journalism and and is also interested in the world of Public Relations, as she’s ...